viridian forest
by Ju5t An0th3r H3d63h06
Summary: Leaf's peaceful existence is shattered with the emergence of a strange book and her even stranger powers. —au, multichapter, various pairings. {UPDATES SPORADICALLY AT BEST}
1. o1-discovery

**a/n: Mudkip is publishing more English stuff, yes she is. This will probably be continued at some point if enough people want it to. But since no one saw blue haired princess, I'm guessing this shall also fly under the radar as one of those random fantasy genre fic dumps. Meh. Also, does anyone else hate the new character listing? 4 characters? Its's driving me NUTS.**

**Disclaimer: Does Satoshi Tajiri have blondish-purple hair and a semi-permanent cynic streak? No? Okay then.**

* * *

viridian forest

* * *

o1-discovery

* * *

It had been a fairly normal day for the brunette girl known as Leaf Hayden. She woke up late as usual and almost caused the death of a squirrel as she Rollerbladed to school, promptly getting busted for the skates when she arrived because they were "out of uniform." Armed with both a late slip and a disciplinary slip, she made her daily stop at the principal's office before heading off to the rest of her classes. Nothing out of the ordinary happened to her until she was in study hall.

That's when the boy appeared.

* * *

"Hold this!" cried the strange boy. Dressed in her school uniform, he looked to be about her age (maybe a year older) and had impressively spiky cobalt hair. As Leaf opened her mouth, he added, "Whatever you do, don't read it! I have to go save my friend from a pair of gardening shears."

"What the-" Leaf stared after the boy, but he was gone.

Quickly, the girl looked around. No one appeared to have noticed her strange encounter; next period's Spanish test apparently took precedence over strange people running into the library and arbitrarily handing off packages to other people they'd never met.

Leaf dropped her bag on the ground, wincing as it hit the library's paneled floor with a loud thump. Brushing off the several angry glares she received from the study-hall-ers next to her, she placed the parcel on the table in front of her. It was roughly the size and shape of a rectangle and wrapped in light brown paper. Green twine was fastened around it in an elaborate bow. Experimentally, the girl tugged at the twine. It remained sturdily in place. Lacking a pair of scissors, she shrugged and stuffed it into her backpack, deciding to open it when she got home. She cracked open a book and began to conjugate verb tenses. The strange encounter was soon forgotten about.

* * *

After school, Leaf crammed her books in her backpack. She took the slightly beat-up package out of her bag to make room for her World History textbook, eyeing it curiously as she remembered her odd encounter in the library that morning. Once again, though, time constraints won out over her inquisitiveness. She strapped on her Rollerblades and hurried to catch up with her older brother.

"Hey! Drew! You borrowed my keys this morning to lock up, give 'em back!"

"Why?" yelled the green-haired teenager, although he was already digging said objects out of his right pocket.

"Because I wanna get home, you dork!" Even with skates on, Leaf still struggled to keep up with her brother as he rushed down the main hallway. He wasn't on the track team for nothing.

"Okay, okay. Catch!" Drew tossed the silver set of keys to his little sister and continued his mad dash towards the gymnasium. Like her, he had inherited the chronic lateness gene and would probably get scolded when he arrived.

Leaf easily caught her keys, shaking her head slightly at her brother's antics, and continued towards the small house she currently called her residence. She turned the key in the lock and dropped her bag on the floor with a huff, shedding her skates and jacket as she walked further in. She waved at the picture of her parents that was taped to the main hallway, smiling sadly as she did so. Though the car accident that took her parents' lives had occurred two years ago, she still remembered that day—and the grief and rage that accompanied it—to the letter. Drew had coped by running away from it all, becoming the star of Marino High's track team in a span of three months and staying in that spot ever since. Leaf had tried to follow suit by finding something she could work at, but she hadn't quite found her niche yet.

Shaking her head to rid herself of her glum thoughts, Leaf adopted a cheerful expression and opened the fridge. Something blue and fuzzy hissed at her, and she yelped and slammed it shut with a thud.

"Yep. Dinner's gonna wait until Drew gets home."

The brunette girl took her books out of her backpack. For the third time that day, the brown parcel caught her attention. Deciding she'd had enough mystery for one day, she proceeded to locate a pair of scissors and set about cutting apart the green twine with them. She held her breath as the last piece of twine fell apart with a carefully placed snip and the brown paper unwrapped itself seemingly of its own accord.

It was…

A book.

Leaf scowled. "I was assaulted by some weird kid for a _book?_"

Despite her annoyance, she padded over to the kitchen light switch and flicked it on so she could get a better look at the book she held in her hands. The book's cover was a verdant shade of forest green and bore no words on either side. It looked rather worn, and she braced herself as she opened the cover. The cover page was blank, but as she watched, words began to reveal themselves in a curlicue script:

_You opened this Book not of Malice, but of Curiosity;_

_Your Innocence may prove to be the Greatest Flaw._

_Within this Book lies both a Blessing and a Curse;_

_You shall Soon find yourself in the Grip of Coppice Law._

All thoughts of homework exited Leaf's head abruptly as she began to regard the chance meeting in the library with much more importance. What had the strange boy said before running away? Try as she might, the only tidbit she could remember was a sentence about gardening shears. With a sigh, Leaf grabbed the book and headed into the living room. Maybe as she read, she would discover more about the strange riddle. She sank into the couch cushions and turned the first page, beginning to read the book.

* * *

_Once upon a time, there was a girl named Gardenia. She possessed the powers of nature and was hunted by many as a result…_

* * *

Thoroughly absorbed in the mysterious story about the nature fairy girl and the dashing earth-element fairy who saved her from certain doom, Leaf didn't notice her brother come home until he tossed a cushion at her. She looked up from the book and blinked, startled by how late it was.

Drew waved at her, spatula in hand. "Breakfast for dinner?"

"Sure," agreed Leaf amicably, putting the book down on the table and standing up to help her brother with the pancakes. Behind her, the book glowed an odd shade of gold and vanished entirely.

After dinner, Leaf looked for her book, but it was gone.

"Did you see my book?" the girl asked her older brother.

"The green one you were reading before?" Drew shook his head, chartreuse locks shifting slightly. "Nope. Can't say I have, sorry."

_Maybe I put it upstairs,_ mused Leaf as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom on the second-floor landing. She opened the door of her room and moved a few Lego models before reaching her nightstand. The book was lying undisturbed on the clear glass table, and she picked it up and examined it suspiciously.

"Weird, I could have sworn I left you on the table," she told the book before laughing at her own ridiculousness. "What am I doing, talking to a book? I must be insane." She flopped down on her bed and cracked open the cover again. No curlicue script appeared this time, however. Raising an eyebrow, she shrugged it off_. Eh, whatever. I've got to finish this story!_

* * *

_Gardenia was exhausted. The Fire Hunters were coming closer by the second, but she forced herself to keep running—until she skidded to a stop at the edge of a cliff…_

* * *

As Leaf read, she could feel her eyelids drooping. "Come on, stay up just a little more!" she whispered to herself, desperate to know what Gardenia's fate was, but it was no use. Sleep eventually overtook the brunette, and her head fell onto the soft comforter of her bed as she hit the last chapter. The book was left opened by her side.

* * *

At exactly ten pm, vines began to emerge from it.

Slowly, ivy crept over the girl's bedroom floor, carpeting it in viridian foliage.

* * *

The vines didn't stop there, though—they twirled up the bedposts, forming closed buds and wide leaves, and turned her nightstand into a hedge. They eased up the walls, leaving beautiful patterns with small buds and leaves sprouting from their edges. They devoured the comforter, planting roots into it as easily as if it was the soil outside.

Outside, the section of sky above Leaf and Drew's house darkened to an intense shade of jade. The vines stopped, and Leaf stirred.

"Hmm…?" mumbled the girl, rubbing her eyes. Her vision was dark, and it was a moment before she realized that it was nighttime. Blinking as her eyes attempted to adjust, she yawned and touched her nightstand, fumbling for the lamp.

Something touched her hand. Leaf yanked it away. A single leaf was in her grasp.

She shrieked.

Her older brother came running, kicking open the door.

"Leaf! What happened-oh. Crap." His face changed from one of worry about his sister to one of understanding and exasperation at the same time.

"Do you know what happened here?" demanded Leaf, panicked as she picked up the mysteriously unscathed book and clutched it to her chest in panic.

"Yes, and you weren't supposed to learn about it until your sixteenth birthday," replied Drew, sounding like he was going to punch the person responsible for it. He crossed the room in a few quick strides and looked out of the window. "Fantastic," he added under his breath as he caught sight of the sky. "Does anyone ever think of what to tell the neighbors around here?"

Leaf watched, equal parts terrified and awestruck, as her brother closed his eyes and stuck out a hand. In a flash of bright gold light, the vines retreated from every surface in her room and sealed themselves into the book she was holding.

"Get Hugh," instructed Drew, and Leaf realized with some trepidation that her brother was talking to the book in her hands. It glowed a brilliant shade of gold and started to heat up rapidly. Leaf cried out in surprise and dropped it.

"Ow!" yelled the book as its pages fluttered angrily.

"I-I'm sorry!" Leaf instinctively apologized in the direction of the floor.

"You should be," muttered a voice. "Thank goodness that book landed cover first."

Leaf leaned over the edge of her bed and saw a person roughly the size of her hand standing on the page. It was the boy from the library.

"Y-you!" cried the brunette.

"You gave the Linden Book to my sister?" demanded Drew unceremoniously, glaring in the direction of the strange boy.

'I told her not to read it!" protested the boy, crossing his arms with a scowl. His jet-black wings _(wings?)_ fluttered in irritation. "Plus, Rosa told me she didn't even open it!"

"Rosa needs glasses," replied Drew flatly. "It's open, it's on the floor, and it's a giant target for the Fire Hunters."

"Those guys from the story are real?" Leaf had watched the exchange in confusion, but her ears immediately perked up at the mention of something familiar.

"Oh, for the love of Gardenia's roses. You didn't explain _anything_ to her?" The boy Leaf had deduced was named Hugh scowled up from the floor.

"I was trying to protect her!" yelled Drew back. "She's only fourteen!"

"Hey, listen!" Leaf climbed off the bed and lifted the book up into her spot, ignoring Hugh's protests. "I want some answers. What just happened to my room? What are you trying to protect me from? Was the story I read real? Why are the Fire Hunters after us? And who are _you?"_ she finished with a pointed glare at the boy.

"I'm Guardian of the Darkness element," replied Hugh matter-of-factly. "Rosa is my best friend. She's Guardian of the Sky element. There are lots of us-"

"Okay, we get it," cut in Drew sharply. "Right now we have to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving until I get some answers," replied Leaf stubbornly, planting her feet firmly on the ground with a scowl. "Case in point: this," she added, holding out her fists. Vines wound themselves around both hands. "Why am I turning into a plant?"

"Fair enough," sighed Drew.

Hugh flicked his wings and soared into the air, landing on her nightstand. "First, you're not turning into a plant. Second, the Fire Hunters are real and this house is a giant target as of now."

"Thanks to _someone._" Drew glared at Hugh.

Hugh scowled. "Oh, sure. Let's blame the Darkness spirit for this one."

"Not helping!" singsonged Leaf sarcastically. "Drew, go on."

"Gee. Thank you." Drew flicked his bangs in aggravation and patted the spot next to him. "Leaf, sit down. There are a few things you need to know about this family…"


	2. o2-elucidation

**a/n: The Mudkip is deciding to continue this, yes she is. Although it was a decision fueled by Skittles, so its reliability is questionable. C'est la vie. :) This will be updating semi-regularly from here on out, so...every other Friday or so, I think. I'm a busy Mudkip. /winces**

**I have a Jack Frost problem help. Also Lux Rei stop reading this because you know you are not allowed to proof till I publish ok.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it, as per the usual.**

* * *

viridian forest

* * *

o2-elucidation

* * *

"Okay, so let me get this straight." Leaf stood up and walked forward, whirling around to face her older brother. "You're a nature fairy."

"Yep," Drew stated bluntly.

"You're also a nature fairy." Leaf pointed at Hugh.

"Spirit of Nature, Darkness element, Darkness class," clarified the cobalt-haired boy, annoyed. "At least get it right."

"I'm apparently a really powerful nature fairy, hence why my room exploded."

"Can you cut it out with the fairy thing?" demanded Hugh, an aggravated expression appearing on his face.

"The nature-fairy thing apparently runs in the family," continued Leaf, blatantly ignoring him, "which means Mom and Dad were nature fairies, too. Am I right so far?"

Drew shrugged. "You just cut my highly eloquent explanation down to three sentences and keep likening the entire nature spirit classification to lots of mini Tinker Bell lookalikes, but I guess so."

"Nice to see _you_ haven't changed," scoffed Leaf, shaking her head at her brother.

Drew smirked. "I guess that runs in the family too."

"Great, siblings getting along!" Hugh clapped his hands. "Can we go now before we all get turned into little blobs of fairy ash by the Fire Hunters?"

"Ignore him," came a voice from the window. "He was in the bathroom when Arceus was handing out manners."

Instinctively, Leaf shot out a hand. A spiral of vines wrapped themselves around her right wrist, much like they had a few minutes ago, and wrapped themselves around the unidentified flying—

"Waaah! Put those away!"

—_person._

"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry." Panicked, Leaf dropped the vines and stepped forward, fully intending to catch whatever or whoever she had accidentally snagged. Hugh got there first, though, taking off in a blur of shadows and wings to catch the rapidly descending spirit.

"Rosa, are you okay?" demanded the darkness spirit, releasing his friend into the air.

"Y-yeah! I-I'm fine!" stammered out the girl, dipping a few inches in midair before regaining her bearings.

Leaf took a closer look at the newest member of the group. She was a bit shorter than Hugh and rather pretty, with wide sapphire eyes and cinnamon hair buns from which a few unkempt bangs poked, framing her almond face. She wore jeans, a T-shirt, and a light blue hoodie with a heart on it, and a pair of glowing white wigs similar to that of an angel's poked from her back.

"I guess that was my fault," continued Rosa, stuffing her hands into her pockets embarrassedly as she hovered. "I shouldn't have barged into the house of an Active like that, especially not a brand-new one…"

"You're just lucky she wasn't a Fire-class Active," retorted Hugh with a scowl. Grabbing her hand, he added, "You're sure you're not hurt anywhere? No cuts? Bruises? Random poison ivy?"

"Really, I'm fine!" Rosa grinned at him, and Leaf caught the faintest hint of a blush tingeing her face in the dim jade light still issuing from the sky. She smirked knowingly at the duo, enjoying their expressions.

Drew was less subtle. "Although I hate to break up this little cavity-inducing moment, we need to go before we get turned into 'little blobs of fairy ash.'" He drew air quotations with his fingers around the last phrase, causing Hugh to scowl.

"Stop using my words against me, pretty boy," snapped the blunette.

"Oh, like you're one to talk!" scoffed Drew angrily. "You probably go to a salon just to get that hair of yours to stay up!"

Leaf groaned. "I'm having a midlife crisis here and the only thing you two can do is attempt to annoy each other out of existence?"

"You're fourteen! How is that a midlife crisis?" retorted Drew, at the exact same time that Hugh replied with a petulant "Yes."

Leaf exhaled heavily and put a hand to her face. "This is not how I expected my night to go."

"Yeah, that would make all of us," sighed Rosa glumly as she struggled to turn the book right side up.

Taking pity on the struggling Psychic-class spirit, Leaf flipped it over for her. "What are you doing?" she inquired of Rosa, tilting her head curiously and thus increasing her chocolate-colored bedhead.

"I'm transporting us," replied Rosa easily. "The Linden Book has a lot of powers, but its most notable one is teleportation—that is, traveling long distances in an instant."

"I know what teleportation is," replied Leaf, affronted.

"I know you know. I'm just being really specific because that's the main reason the Fire Hunters are after it." Rosa formed a pink orb of psychic power in midair as she spoke. "Psychic-class and Sky-class sprites can transport themselves short distances, but the Linden Book will let you go literally anywhere. It does other cool stuff too, like occasionally unlocking an Active's powers, but most of the time it masquerades as a regular storybook."

"Like the one I was reading," breathed Leaf, regarding the emerald cover of the Linden Book with something like awe.

"Exactly." Rosa nodded cheerfully and held out her hand. The fully formed psychic orb floated towards the book on the bed, and she eyed the two arguing boys behind her. "Hugh, Drew! Our ride's here."

"And not a moment too soon," muttered Hugh as he caught a glimpse of fiery-red streaks emerging from the jade tornado above the house. "We've got guests."

"Teleportation, activate!" called out Rosa as the psychic orb hit the Linden Book.

The book glowed a strange shade of electric pink before turning completely transparent. The pink light shimmered around its edges, making a sound that Leaf would later describe as the sound of a sparkle. Peering through the newly formed portal, the brunette attempted to catch a first glimpse of the place that would inevitably become her new hideout from the Fire Hunters, whoever they were.

"Woah, be careful!" Rosa tugged on a lock of Leaf's hair, effectively yanking her back from the portal. "The person who created the portal has to go through first, otherwise there's gonna be a hugely explosive magical backlash."

Leaf edged away from the glowing book. "Any particular reason why?"

"It's to protect nature spirits from being forced to create portals," explained Hugh as he flew up beside the cinnamon-haired Psychic spirit. "The Linden Book developed a crap ton of safety mechanisms after the Fire Hunters appeared. We still don't quite know everything that it can do."

"Okay! Time to go!" Rosa landed neatly on the bed and touched the book with one hand, vanishing in a flash of translucent pink. Hugh followed suit, also vanishing.

The portal began to shrink around its edges.

"You ready?" asked Drew, looking at his sister a bit worriedly.

Leaf nodded, pushing the thousands of questions she still had to the back of her mind as she met her brother's gaze with a fierce determination. "I was born ready," she responded, smirking.

Drew snorted at the cliché. "All right. You may want to brace yourself for this," he added as he grabbed his sister's hand.

Leaf took a deep breath, watching her brother touch the book with the hand not holding hers. A pale-pink glow enveloped him, spreading to her along their linked hands, and the room faded away behind her.

* * *

Teleportation is a highly efficient way of moving from one place to another. However, for one unused to the sensation of being flung headfirst down a very small slide at speeds rivaling that of a Chevy Camaro, the experience can be quite disorienting, causing such unfortunate side effects as nausea, dizziness, and migraines.

Leaf was very much unused to teleportation.

Stumbling out of the portal, she barely had time to notice the forest around her before black spots swarmed her vision and she passed out on the forest floor.

* * *

When the brunette girl next opened her eyes, she was lying on a rather comfortable bed. She stretched and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, yawning widely as she examined her surroundings.

_Wait a second. This isn't my room._

Leaf panicked slightly as she examined her current place of residence. The room she was in was large and sparsely decorated. A digital clock rested on the transparent nightstand, accompanied by a small reading light, and a large shelf carrying various types of bottles was attached to the wall above her. She climbed out of bed and tiptoed across the floor, taking in the other beds housed within the large room. From the large amounts of medicines stored on shelves and in cabinets, as well as the faint antisepticky smell, she quickly deduced that she was in some type of medical ward.

"Why am I in a hospital?" whispered Leaf to herself. Ivy curled around her fists, and her sense of panic heightened before she remembered everything: Hugh, Rosa, the fairy thing, teleporting, the book-

_-the Linden Book._ Leaf whirled around, searching for the tome that had begun her crazy adventure. Much to her combined surprise and relief, it shimmered into existence on the bed she had been previously laying on. She picked it up and flipped through the gold-edged pages, glad to see something familiar in this weird place.

Of course, that's when the quicksilver door casually appeared on the wall.

* * *

Leaf sprang from the bed and stuck out her right hand, clutching the Linden Book to her chest with her left and inwardly noting that her vines seemed to have become her automatic defense mechanism. From what she knew about the powers of nature spirits—which wasn't much—she deduced that she would have to adopt an actual battle plan sometime.

The door slowly swung open, revealing a rather short girl with chocolate-brown skin and a massive amount of bright purple hair. She caught sight of Leaf's vines and gasped.

"Oh my gosh that is so _cool!_ I mean, I knew we just got a new Forest-element Active, but I didn't think you had your powers yet! It's been really weird around here lately, 'cause you're like the sixth Active to pop up this year when usually we maybe only get three, but what's cool is you came right after Zoey who's Light-element—you know, like Rosa, except Rosa is Psychic class and Zoey is Normal, but Rosa is so awesome, because see, she's helping me out with my Dragon attacks and things because they're more like sneezes and I need to learn to control my powers so that I won't sneeze and accidentally obliterate a plant or something—Oh I'm sorry I just randomly burst in on you, hi my name's Iris, Sky-element Dragon class!"

The strange girl said this all in one breath while grinning widely at a slightly spooked Leaf.

"Uh, hi?" The brunette waved timidly at the girl who called herself Iris, and the vines on her wrist retreated slightly. "I'm Leaf Hayden…don't quite know what class or element I am yet…"

"Oh, no worries!" Iris easily waved off Leaf's concerns, caramel eyes glittering. "You're okay with walking, right?"

Leaf tested out her ability to walk. No debilitating side effects suddenly made themselves known, so the brunette simply nodded. "Um, how long was I out?"

"Maybe a day or so, nothing big," replied the purplette, furrowing her brow in thought. "About ten hours. But when you came in here, you looked absolutely exhausted. Drew wasn't much better. He woke up before you and went outside to wait until you woke up, I think he might be training OH THAT'S RIGHT I GOTTA GIVE YOU THE TOUR! Pleeeeeeease let me give you the tour!"

"Er, I think I can figure this place out by myself-" began Leaf, but to no avail; her new friend was hell-bent on the idea, even pulling out a legendary set of puppy-dog eyes to supplement her plea. "Okay fine."

"Yaay!" Iris cheered and pumped a fist in the air. "This is gonna be so great! Okay, first things first: you're standing in the medical ward of a giant tree."

Leaf stared at the purple-haired girl incredulously. "You're kidding, right?"

* * *

Iris wasn't kidding.

Leaf stared at the enormous tree in the center of the forest, shading her eyes as she attempted to see just how far up it went. "You said this was the Entree?"

"Yep!" replied Iris cheerily. "It's got the medical ward, Headquarters, various spare rooms, um what else…storage, supplies, emergency bunkers…Oh and electricity and running water. The Light and Sky element fairies helped us out a whole lot with that one, but I don't really know how it was done because this was waaaay before I became an Active."

"Okay…" Leaf gave up trying to spot the top of the Entree and turned to examine the rest of the forest. "So, um…where is this, exactly?"

"This," said Iris, "is the Entree Forest, also known as the central communications center for all nature spirits. As for where, umm…that's complicated. I heard Cynthia say once that the forest is hidden within a tear in the temporal sphere, whatever that means…" She trailed off, thinking, and Leaf attempted to steer the conversation in a less confusing direction.

"What about the clearing?"

"That's right over there." Iris pointed at a sheet of hanging vines to the right of the Entree. "That's the Entree Clearing. It's pretty much the training ground for Actives—oh, that's right! We need to get you a weapon!" Grabbing Leaf's hand, she dashed off, dragging the beleaguered brunette with her.

"Wait, what? What's going on?" yelled Leaf, but her question went unanswered. Annoyed, she wrenched free of Iris's grip and planted her feet firmly on the ground.

Iris stopped running, no longer sensing Leaf's presence behind her, and turned around. "What's wrong?"

"I have no idea where I am and no one seems to want to give me answers," replied Leaf flatly. "I would really appreciate if I could get a few things straightened out. Where is Drew?"

"Oh! I'm so stupid!" The purple-haired girl winced and smacked a hand to her forehead. "I completely forgot to tell you. Drew told me to show you around for a bit while he was in the field. I should have told you that before I dragged you everywhere…"

"That would have helped," replied Leaf dryly, jogging to catch up with the shorter girl.

"I'm sorry!" cried Iris mournfully. "And here I've been just randomly taking you places and stuff…"

"It's okay." Leaf waved it off, deciding to yell at Drew later for ditching her. "So, this is the Entree Clearing, right? What do we do here?"

"We go to see the weapons master," piped up Iris cheerily. "Then you can train properly with your powers."

"There's a weapons master?"

"Mm-hmm." Iris nodded, pushing past the sheet of vines. "He's pretty new. He just took over like a month ago, after Flint-" She stopped suddenly and dropped the vines, choking back what sounded suspiciously like a sob, and Leaf bit back the question that sprang to her lips as she noticed the pain on the shorter girl's face.

Iris wiped her eyes with a cream sleeve. "S-sorry. Never mind." Poking her head into the vines once again, she yelled at top volume into the expanse.

"Hey, Gary! We've got a new Active!"


	3. o3-encounter

**a/n: WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SPELLING ERRORS. SCREW YOU, WORD. [*****the Mudkip used Water Gun!*]**

**erm anyway yay for promised updates! Reviews are nice, but I shan't hawk you for them. Also RotG references because eek Jack Frost. :3 Bonus points for anyone who identifies unnamed characters!~ And trust me, **_**everyone **__**is **__**important.**_** /laughs maniacally**

**Disclaimer: I got lazy with being creative at disclaimers. But I still don't own it!**

* * *

viridian forest

* * *

o3-encounter

* * *

Iris dropped the vines with a rather self-satisfied expression. A few seconds later, a head of spiked brown hair poked from the thicket.

"What do you _mean,_ another Active?"

The teenager Iris had referred to as Gary scowled and shoved through the vines until he was standing in front of the two. "This is the sixth one this year. You gotta be kidding me."

"Oh, shut up, Oak," responded Iris cheerfully. "You've been wanting a chance to show off lately, so here you go. Congratulations."

_Good luck with that,_ thought the fourteen-year-old cynically. _I'm not an easily impressionable fangirl._

"Leaf, this is Gary Oak. Forest element, Steel class," introduced the Dragon-class spirit. "He's a bit of an ass, but he's one of the best fighters we've got, which excuses him on occasion. Oak—" and here she turned her caramel gaze to the teenager— "this is Leaf. She's a Forest element for sure, maybe Grass-classification, and she's our newest Active. Play nice."

"What do you mean, 'play nice'?" asked Leaf, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

"'A bit of an ass'?" echoed Gary, equally incredulous.

"Ehehe…introductions complete, I'm off!" Iris grinned nervously and waved at the two. With a small pop and a puff of fiery-blue smoke, she was a travel-size Dragon spirit with two sharply-curved bright-black wings jutting from the back of her pink-and-cream dress. Said wings fluttered wildly as she made her escape, yelling down a promise to be back with Drew and lunch.

With Iris gone, Leaf returned to sizing Gary up. The weapons meister was barefoot, wearing only a black zip-up hoodie and gray cargo pants to protect against the elements, and his spiked brown hair was a few shades lighter than hers.

"Like what you see?" Gary quirked an eyebrow and smirked loftily at the brunette.

"Well, now I see what Iris meant about you being a bit of a…butt," replied Leaf, trailing off as she replaced the swear word with something that was not a swear word.

_Nice, Leaf. Real nice. What are we, third graders?_

Apparently, Gary shared the same sentiment. His smirk widened.

"A butt? Really? I could have sworn she said a—"

Leaf cut him off abruptly. "I don't swear. Also, I need a weapon."

"It's always all about the swords for you people, isn't it?" muttered Gary wearily. "Fine, have it your way, then." He shoved aside the vines and made a mock-courteous gesture towards Leaf.

"Ladies first."

Leaf scowled and brushed past Gary as she stalked into the clearing, causing a few of the ivy tendrils he was holding to curl themselves tightly around his right wrist. She stopped in her tracks, however, when she saw what exactly she had walked into.

"Whoa."

* * *

If the Entree had been an incredible sight, then Leaf would have to describe the Entree Clearing as surreal. It was enormous, about the size of two football fields one on top of the other. Lots of wide circles were chalked into the grass beneath her Converse-clad feet. The circle nearest her was almost completely ringed in targets, some bearing deep gouges or char marks. Another circle housed training dummies. A few circles over from where Leaf was standing, she caught sight of a circle that was a miniature lake. Every individual training space was different, and they stretched out as far as the eye could see.

Tearing her eyes away from the sight in difficulty, Leaf focused on the taller brunette next to her. "Where are we going?"

"Center training ground, Six," responded Gary easily.

"…_Six_?" Leaf prayed to whatever mystical beings ruled over this place that she had misinterpreted the boy and that he meant "training ground #6" instead of "your new nickname is Six."

"Sixth Active this year. Thus, you are Six."

Well, there went that notion.

"I have a name," spat the chocolate-haired girl, the familiar vines curling around her wrists. "It is not 'Six'."

"Whatever you say, Six," shot Gary back over his shoulder. "And that vine trick is pretty useful, but we're the same element. Good luck with that."

_I will not strangle the weapons meister with my newly-acquired powers,_ chanted Leaf silently as she jogged to catch up with the taller brunette's retreating back. _I will not strangle the weapons meister with my newly-acquired powers. I will not strangle the weapons meister with my—_

"Ow!" Leaf collided with Gary's back as he stopped abruptly in front of what looked like the largest circle on the training grounds. She rubbed her forehead as she stepped back to examine the bare-earth circle with the chalk like around it.

"My spine," moaned Gary theatrically as he edged away from her, rubbing said injury. "What do you eat for breakfast, rocks?"

"Shut up, you'll get over it," declared Leaf, annoyed. _Why did I have to get stuck with the drama queen…_

"Anyway." Gary straightened up with a bored scowl. "Welcome to the Basic Ground. This is where we'll be training today. No special elements to screw you over, no targets, no weapons. Just you, me, and the swirly vines that keep wrapping around your wrists when you're in danger." He stepped into the circle and crossed his arms.

Leaf eyed him warily. "Are you serious?"

"Unfortunately, I am," replied Gary with a cocky grin. "There's no way to tell what type of weapon you should use until I judge your attacks. Lucky for me, I'm pretty resilient. So come at me with everything you've got."

Leaf shrugged and stepped into the chalk circle. Immediately, what looked like a giant translucent wall shimmered out of the chalk around them and shot into the air, fading in and out of visibility with a slight humming sound.

"What the—" Leaf jumped.

Gary snickered. "Oh, relax, it's just the shields. Those are there so that nobody burns down the Entree Forest with a misfired attack or anything. Now come on, we haven't got all day."

"Um…" Leaf scuffed the dirt with one shoe. "What do I do?"

"You attack," replied Gary in a duh-voice, staring at the girl with an expression of complete incredulity. "Think about whatever was putting you in danger the last time you did that vine thing, and just attack."

"It's not a vine thing!" retorted the girl with a scowl. "It's my main defense!"

"Well, with a shoddy defense like that, you'll be firewood to the Hunters," scoffed Gary. "Come on, Six. You can do better than that."

"_Augh!_ Stop—calling me—_SIX!_" With a yell, Leaf stomped one of her black-and-white Converse onto the packed dirt beneath the two. Ivy sprouted from the ground, swirling around Leaf's ankles, and she stuck both hands out to balance herself as the ground heaved beneath her.

Four enormous branches suddenly burst from the crazily-tilting ground, scattering dirt everywhere as they tore through the training ground. They spun around each other like some type of leaf-adorned drill, and Leaf watched in horrified fascination as her hybrid attack spiraled towards the weapons meister with deadly accuracy.

_I've got to stop this thing._

As much as Leaf hated the nickname Six, she was also very sure that critically injuring one of the strongest spirits in Entree Forest (because even though he didn't act it, he was most definitely powerful to be the go-to guy for weaponry) would get both her and Drew booted out of the forest and left to the mercy of the Fire Hunters, whoever they were. Quickly, the brunette summoned her vines and lashed them to the branch drill, digging her heels into the forest floor as she tugged against the branches. Despite her best efforts, though, the out-of-control drill attack sped onwards, dragging her along with it.

Gary still hadn't move from the very end of the training ring, completely unperturbed by the rotating branches aimed directly at his midsection.

"What, are you stupid?" yelled Leaf incredulously. "Get out of the way already!"

Gary smirked at her. "No."

His mischievous grin was the last thing Leaf registered before an eighteen-foot wall of steel exploded from the ground between them.

* * *

The branch drill spun into the wall, losing its momentum almost instantly, and shuddered to an abrupt halt. Leaf was flung off, vines snapping around her as she flew backwards and crashed hard onto the ground.

Wincing, the brunette sat up and catalogued injuries. Nothing appeared to be broken, although she suspected bruising, so she got to her feet using a wayward branch as leverage.

Gary was examining the drilled-into wall, but he looked up when he heard Leaf's footsteps. "Impressive. Unleashing an attack you can't control."

"Also known as an attack I didn't know I could use," retorted Leaf sourly, noticing Gary taking in her twig-ridden hair, muddy shirt, and slashed-up jeans. "What," she added, meeting his unreadable expression with a steely glare.

"Oh, don't be so uptight," Gary scoffed, tracing a symbol in midair with his pointer finger.

"What are you doing?" Leaf raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the teenage meister.

Gary winked at her as the symbol glowed white. "I found your weapon."

* * *

"And then this white flash sorta…came out of the symbol like _whoosh,_ and now my new weapon is a staff."

Leaf, Iris, and Drew were all sitting on individual stones around a tree stump as the chocolate-eyed girl recounted her morning. As the purple-haired girl had promised, she had returned with lunch and Drew (who Leaf yelled at for ditching her in the middle of a forest that may or may not exist before forgiving him, because he was her brother and he had food.)

Iris laughed as she took a bite of her sandwich. "So you're Jack Frost's sister now?"

"That means _I'm_ Jack Frost." Drew grinned wickedly and grabbed Leaf's new weapon, poking her unopened juice box with it. "Which also means frozen drinks. Bam."

"Oh, ha ha. You don't even deal with water." Leaf swallowed the last of her lunch in one gulp before grabbing her staff back, placing it atop the tree stump that served as the trio's makeshift table. "How come Gary can randomly summon weapons, anyway? And why does he have to show off so much?" she added under her breath, recalling the efficiency with which her drill attack was dispatched at the last possible second.

"Weapons meister, duh!" Iris waved a hand in the air, clearly indicating the answer should be obvious. "He can even partially turn into some weapons, too. But that's uber-dangerous for him, even, so he rarely does it."

"The showing-off part is all me." A too-familiar voice broke into the conversation.

Leaf glared in Gary Oak's direction as he perched next to her, purloining a sandwich from the open lunch box next to her staff. "Why are you here?"

"Free country," replied Gary nonchalantly as he inspected the sandwich. "Score, peanut butter and Nutella! My favorite!"

"That's MY sandwich, Oak." Drew snatched his lunch from the brunette before directing a vicious glare in his direction. "Get away from my sister."

"I'm not flirting, I'm hungry! Sheesh!" Gary directed his eyes skyward, but moved off of Leaf's rock and summoned his own steel block with a snap of his fingers. "Can I have half, at least?"

"You can have some of mine," offered Iris cheerily as she broke off a piece of her chicken wrap and proffered it to him.

"Why are you encouraging him?" demanded the chartreuse-haired male, irritated.

"He can stay, Drew," said Leaf wearily as she poked the straw through her Hi-C carton, secretly relieved to find that the staff had not frozen it (and subsequently feeling stupid when logic kicked in.) "It's fine. He's being harmless."

"Aw, Six, I knew you cared!" Gary grinned roguishly at her before inhaling Iris's sandwich in one gulp. "I mean, aside from you throwing a giant tree root drill thingie at me, we're friends, right?"

Leaf's face heated up at the reminder of her embarrassing failure at controlling her powers. "Correction: I hate you, Pine. Go find some other unfortunate soul to leech food from."

"_PINE?!"_

"You called me Six." Leaf reached into the lunch box for a pack of Oreos.

"Ooh, harsh," commented Iris, swinging her feet against her rock as she watched the two bicker. "Don't worry, Drew, your sister's awesome. She'll survive Gary."

Drew scowled and refused to comment, instead taking an unnecessarily large bite of his sandwich. He choked, and Iris innocently handed him a juice box.

* * *

After lunch, Iris dragged Leaf away from the group. "Okay, let's finish your tour now!"

"W-wait!" Leaf turned back to Drew and Gary. "Anyone else want to come?"

"I'll pass." Drew mock-shuddered. "I still remember being dragged everywhere by this crazy."

Leaf laughed.

"I am not a crazy!" protested Iris, pouting slightly.

Gary smirked and stood up, brushing dirt from his cargo pants. "I'll come, since Six can't stand to be without me for even a few seconds."

"Shove off, Pine," snapped Leaf, glaring at him. "I was _trying_ to be nice."

One argument later, the brunette male was tagging along with the purple-haired Dragon-class spirit and her chocolate-haired protégé.

"So, where are we going?" asked Leaf, glancing at her guide.

"We," replied Iris happily, "are going to the last place on the map. Also known as you've seriously gotta see this."

"Deepest Clearing?" guessed Gary, quirking an eyebrow.

"You jerk!" Iris punched him, and the weapons meister winced. "It was supposed to be a surprise!"

"I still don't know what it is," offered Leaf, attempting to play peacemaker.

The trio pushed back the vine curtains and entered the Entree Clearing. More people were on the training grounds than in the morning, and Leaf caught sight of a raven-haired male practicing on a battlefield full of generators. An orb of electricity similar to ball lightning was sparking at each one, and he was apparently attempting to control them all simultaneously. As Leaf watched, he raised both hands above his head, and all four ball-lightning spheres sparked together and exploded.

"Wow." Stunned, Leaf stopped in her tracks. These people were good.

"Hi, Ash!" Iris waved at the obviously Electric-class spirit.

"Heya, Iris!" Ash waved, accidentally causing one of the generators to explode in a jolt of electricity. He winced and cast a guilty glance in Gary's direction. "Sorry…"

"You're fixing that, Ashy-boy," replied Gary threateningly, but his expression suggested that this was not the first time something similar had happened.

"Places to go, people to see!" Iris tugged on Gary's arm. "I know you would love to stay and gossip, but…"

Gary scoffed, following Iris as she dashed off. "As if."

Leaf continued at a much slower pace, observing other spirits practicing or sparring. A crimson-haired guy was firing ice shards off in the direction of a carrot-top, who dodged easily and returned fire with what looked like bubbles. (Peering closer, Leaf noticed that they were indeed bubbles, and the girl was directing them with a bubble wand.) Nearby, a girl with dark blue hair was practicing her blind aim on a ring of targets, sending blasts of blue flames at the center of each target with her back turned while a stoic purple-haired male watched and occasionally commented. ("You're leaning to the left a bit.") The clearing rang with explosions and shouts, and Leaf watched the training circles with equal parts awe and envy as her fellow spirits displayed their prowess of their respective elements.

"Coming, Six?" yelled Gary from the other end of the clearing.

Leaf glared at the brunette's retreating back, cupping both hands to her mouth. "SOD OFF, PINE."

"That's definitely a new one," remarked the blue-haired girl, pausing her rapid-fire energy blasts to grin at Leaf. The purple-haired guy next to her nodded in agreement, flickers of amusement sparking into his onyx eyes.

"Umm…hi." Leaf waved nervously at the duo before ducking into the small hole in the foliage behind her.

"Hey, Leaf! Over here!" Iris waved from where she was standing next to Gary. "This is the last stop on Iris's Grand Tour of Epicness and Wonder—shut _up,_ Oak—otherwise known as the Deepest Clearing."

"Deepest Clearing…?" Suddenly, Leaf remembered something the purple-haired girl had said to her that morning. "I thought no one was supposed to come here anymore?"

"It's not that we can't." Gary sobered up instantly, meeting Leaf's inquisitive gaze seriously. "It's that, after two months ago, no one around here would really like to."

Leaf examined the shrine in the middle of the clearing. It seemed innocent enough: four wooden panels etched with strange, swirling patterns connected to a miniature tile roof. The structure was propped up by sturdy wooden beams, and as Leaf bent down to look, she noticed three small stones with pictures carved onto their surfaces. The stone on the right bore a sketch of a magnificent bird mid-flight. The middle stone was a drawing of some type of dragon, and the last stone carried a drawing of a pixie-like creature.

Iris stepped forward to explain, pointing at each image in turn. "Ho-Oh, protector of the Light and Sky elements. Lugia, protector of the Darkness and Marine elements. And Celebi, protector of the Forest and Earth elements."

"That's us," added Gary in an undertone, and Leaf quirked a grin.

The brunette crouched in the grass, running her fingers across each stone reverently. Ho-Oh's stone was cleaved neatly in two, and all three stones were as cold as ice.

_Something else happened here. Something they're not telling me…_

Celebi's stone suddenly flashed emerald, outlining the drawing inscribed on it in bright green light.

"You're kidding," Iris whispered, caramel eyes reflecting utter shock.

"I'm guessing this doesn't happen often?" Leaf carefully edged away from the glowing stone.

"It doesn't happen ever," responded Gary grimly.

"Oh." Leaf stared at the rock and took another step back.

In response, the stone flashed again, sending out an energy pulse that flooded the clearing with light.

* * *

"_Leaf! MOVE!"_

* * *

The chocolate-haired girl barely had time to appreciate the fact that the cocky weapons meister had actually called her by her name for once before she crumpled to the ground.


End file.
